Man from Cold River
Australian film and television director George Miller has died of a heart attack in a hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He was 79.
He is best remembered for his film The Man From Snowy River, which launched him to make movies in Hollywood,
Unfortunately, Miller was destined to always be known as “the other George Miller.” That’s because he worked at the same time as the creator of the Mad Max franchise, Dr. George Miller.
George T. Miller, ‘The Man From Snowy River’ and ‘The NeverEnding Story II’ Director, Dies at 79
George T. Miller
Australian film director George Miller, of Man From Snowy River fame, dies
Australian film and television director George Miller, who scored a massive hit in the 1980s with The Man From Snowy Riverbefore going on to make movies in Hollywood, has died of a heart attack in hospital in Melbourne. He was 79.
Although he was one of this country’s most commercially successful filmmakers for a period and played a huge role in shaping the way we saw ourselves, the Scottish-born director was destined always to be known as “the other George Miller” by dint of having risen to prominence at almost exactly the same time as the creator of the Mad Maxfranchise, former medico Dr George Miller.
George T. (for Trumbull) Miller will be best remembered for his High Country epic, which grossed $17.2 million locally on its release in 1982 (the equivalent of $68 million in today’s money), did huge business worldwide, and spawned a sequel, an arena spectacular and a penchant for Akubras, Drizabone jackets and RM Williams boots.
But the film he treasured most dearly was one that the rest of the world greeted with absolute disdain.
“Dad’s favourite of the films he made was Les Patterson Saves the World,” says his son Harvey Miller, co-founder with Monte Morgan (son of pollster Roy Morgan) of the band Client Liaison, in which brother Geordie also plays.
The central plot of the movie, which starred Barry Humphries as the alcoholic diplomat of the title and as housewife superstar Dame Edna Everage, revolved around a disease that was spread by contact with toilet seats. Whatever the virtues such a story might have offered, the film was doomed to failure when it was released in the same week as the Grim Reaper AIDS campaign. It duly bombed, but has become something of a cult classic in the years since.